24th Annual Woods Hole Film Festival Features Eight Days of Independent Films From Near & Far July 25-August 1, 2015

_____________________________________________________________________________

WOODS HOLE, MA—The Woods Hole Film Festival, the oldest on Cape Cod and the islands, celebrates its 24th year, running for eight days from July 25through August 1, in the renowned village of Woods Hole. With five pioneering filmmakers-in-residence, more than 100 films—including 34 narrative and documentary feature-length films in competition (many of which are Massachusetts premieres), and 8 shorts programs—workshops, Kids' Day, master classes, panel discussions, and parties featuring top notch live music, the festival offers a stimulating blend of activities for filmmakers and film lovers alike in a casual seaside setting.

In keeping with its mission the festival showcases and promotes the work of independent, emerging filmmakers, and highlights films from or with connections to New England. As the festival has grown in scope and reputation, it has expanded to include work from across the country and around the world. This year several films are from such far-flung locales as Alaska, Minnesota, Turkey, and Brazil.

The festival’s Filmmaker-in-Residence Program, supported by a grant from the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Woods Hole Foundation, invites established filmmakers to participate in screenings, master classes and extended Q&A sessions. Filmmakers-in-residence this year include Cambridge-bred screenwriter and director Maya Forbes, documentary filmmaker and Producer of Creative Partnerships at the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program’s Richard Ray Perez, singer-songwriter Sally Taylor (daughter of Carly Simon and James Taylor), and The Kissinger Twins (Kasia Kifert and Dawid Marcinkowski), Webby award-winning filmmakers based in London.

Opening night features Maya Forbes’s Sundance hit and directorial debut, INFINITELY POLAR BEAR, starring Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana and courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics. Richard Ray Perez screens CESAR’S LAST FAST, about the historic grape boycott led by Cesar Chavez and organized by the United Farm Workers to stop growers from spraying pesticides (Perez was just five years old when he participated with his father in the boycott). Boston-based Sally Taylor presents CONSENSES, a multi-disciplinary project in which 150 artists from around the world interpret each other’s work, resulting in an extended conversation about the human experience and the nature of truth; and The Kissinger Twins present their newest film project as part of “Cinematic Labyrinths: Interactive Films and Transmedia Storytelling,” and will also participate in a panel discussion on creativity and innovation in storytelling with Taylor.

Additional opening night films include Frank Hall Green’s WILDLIKE, about a teenage girl who is sent to live with her uncle in Juneau that was shot entirely in Alaska. As a first time director Green was a virtual unknown, but in true indie fashion, he persuaded Christine Vachon (STILL ALICE, BOYS DON’T CRY) to be the film’s executive producer. Fans of the novel HARRY AND SNOWMAN, the true story of about immigrant Harry deLeyer, who journeyed to the US after World War II and developed a life-altering relationship with an ailing Amish plow horse rescued off a slaughter truck, will appreciate Ron Davis’s documentary of the same name on opening night.

Filmmakers with New England roots or connections have been one of the festival’s longstanding hallmarks. Narrative include; BEREAVE by Rhode Island natives Evangelos & George Giovanis and starring Malcolm MacDowell, Jane Seymour, and Keith Carradine; BOB AND THE TREES, by Berkshire-based Diego Ongaro, about a 50 year-old logger struggling to make ends meet in rural Massachusetts during the 2014 polar vortex; and Boston University graduate Lindsay Copeland’s GIRLS NIGHT, about five college friends who reunite for a concert in Boston (shot entirely in Boston). THE FINEST HOURS author Casey Sherman leads a workshop called FROM PAGE TO SCREEN about turning his book into a major studio film shot in Massachusetts.

It is also traditional for filmmakers to return to the festival with their subsequent films, and this year several returnees are not only well-regarded documentary filmmakers, but also happen to be from Massachusetts. Harvard professors Robb Moss (SECRECY) and Peter Galison return with CONTAINMENT, about the growing problem of nuclear waste generated by nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants. Brandeis University professor Laurie Kahn (TUPPERWARE) returns with LOVE BETWEEN THE COVERS about the little-known, surprisingly powerful community of women who read and write romance novels. Suffolk University professor Gerry Peary (FOR THE LOVE OF MOVIES: THE STORY OF AMERICAN FILM CRITICISM) returns with ARCHIE’S BETTY, about his 25-year search to find out once and for all who are the real people behind the iconic characters of the Archie comic book series. Finally, Cambridge-based Susan Gray (KILLER POET) returns with CIRCUS WITHOUT BORDERS, about two circus troupes—one from the Canadian Arctic and the other from Kalabante in West Africa—who use circus arts as a means of self-expression and cultural exchange.

Other Massachusetts filmmakers with documentaries in the festival include: Emerson College professor Lauren Shaw and ANGKOR'S CHILDREN, about three young female artists in Cambodia working to heal a nation wounded by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime that killed 90% of the country’s artists and intellectuals; and Cambridge native Jenny Raskin’s and Hopkinton native Jon Nealon’s HERE COME THE VIDEOFREEX, about a pioneering video collective that captures the counterculture from the inside by tapping into a treasure trove of recently restored videotapes that include interviews with such icons as Fred Hampton and Abbie Hoffman.

Several films are screening either for the first time or shortly after premiering at major American festivals. THE SECOND MOTHER, Anna Muylaert’s Sundance multi-award winner about a live-in housekeeper in Brazil, screens for only its second time in the US. Famke Janssen stars in the east coast premiere of JACK OF THE RED HEARTS, about a teenage con artist who tricks a desperate mother into hiring her as a live-in companion for her autistic daughter (director Janet Grillo and her former husband, director David O. Russell, have a son who is autistic). Jack C. Newell presents the world premiere of OPEN TABLES, an exploration of true love, love lost, and the importance of a good main course. Shot inside some of Chicago’s and Paris’s trendiest restaurants, the film features numerous Chicago improv veterans, such as Bill Murray’s brother Joel (MAD MEN, MONSTERS UNIVERSITY) and Massachusetts natives T.J. Jagadowski and Kate Duffy. THANK YOU FOR PLAYING, a universally acclaimed documentary by Malika Zouhali-Worall and Connecticut native David Ositt about an indie video game designer who builds an unusually poetic video game about his terminally ill one year-old son, recently premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival (the game will be released in September). Slamdance multi-award winner ACROSS THE SEA, about a Turkish immigrant estranged from her homeland in New York, also gets an east coast premiere.

Several events are in keeping with Woods Hole’s scientific and environmental significance. THE POWER OF ONE VOICE: A 50-YEAR PERSPECTIVE ON THE LIFE OF RACHEL CARSON examines Rachel Carson’s life and the impact of her environmental work through interviews with her son, Roger Christie, her biographer, Linda Lear, and other notable writers, scientists and advocates. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist Michael Moore and the Boston Globe’s Sarah Schweitzer and Steven Wilmsen, creators of the award-winning, multi-media story CHASING BAYLA, based on Moore's decades-long quest to save the North Atlantic Right Whale, present a case study on the process of creating a long form news story that incorporates both written and visual storytelling.

Besides parties featuring first-rate live music, films about music always play a role in the festival. Of particular interest to country music fans is BILLY MIZE AND THE BAKERSFIELD SOUND, a documentary by the grandson of the country singer from Bakersfield, CA whose contributions to the genre are legendary. A who’s who of country music legends, such as Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, weigh in on how he shaped the industry.

The festival takes place at a variety of venues, including Redfield Auditorium, the Woods Hole Community Hall, the Old Woods Hole Fire Station, Lillie Auditorium, Morse Hall at Falmouth Academy and the Falmouth Cinema Pub, with most within walking distance in compact Woods Hole. Special festival parking is available after 5 PM.

Tickets to individual screenings, workshops, panels and parties are $14. Full festival passes are $300 and ticket packages of 10, 6 and 2 are also available.  Tickets are available online at www.woodsholefilmfestival.org or in person during the festival at the Old Woods Hole Fire Station. For more info, call 508-495-3456.

                                                                           ###